SDR Outsourcing: Why It’s a Smart Move for Your Business
Outsourcing your sales department is a great way to save time and money while still having access to the best talent and resources available. Sales outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular as it allows companies to focus on their core competencies while still benefiting from the latest lead generation technology and data-driven insights.
By outsourcing SDRs, you can leverage the expertise of experienced professionals who have a deep understanding of customer acquisition strategies, lead generation processes, and sales automation tools. Additionally, they can help you create effective communication campaigns that target the right prospects at the right time. With an outsourced sales department, you can reduce costs associated with hiring and training new staff while still having access to top-notch sales professionals.
If you’re considering whether outsourcing SDR is right for your company, this guide will explain SDR outsourcing, its benefits, and best practices so you can make an informed decision.
What Is SDR Outsourcing?
Sales Development Representatives (SDR) focus on sales prospecting by using various channels and tools to book meetings with qualified leads. Outsourcing SDRs involves hiring a third-party vendor to manage and execute the sales process on behalf of the company. There are options between SDR as a service (SDRaaS) or companies that specialize in outsourcing SDR.
Typically, outsourced SDRs perform lead qualification and manage leads sent by the client. They are responsible for turning prospective clients into actionable leads then turning those leads into sales discussions. SDRs offer services such as lead nurturing, outbound prospecting, research, and personalization. The services offered and methodologies used vary between SDR companies as some companies only offer cold-calling while others will demo your product to clients for you (and many options in between.) With so many different options, it’s helpful to know how SDR services can benefit your company.
Benefits of Outsourcing SDR Services
An outsourced sales team gives your company access to a skilled sales team that can help generate leads and close deals. From saving you time and money to providing valuable insights, here is a list of ways outsourcing your SDRs can help your company excel and surpass its goals:
- Increased Efficiency
Outsourced SDR teams work to find, qualify, and contact potential leads before handing them off to in-house sales teams. This allows your sales team to spend less time hunting for leads and their contact information and more time closing deals. The sales calls your team has through this activity will be with qualified leads who are already interested in hearing about your offering – which increases the conversion rate of calls to sales. - Market Research Before, During, and After SDR Outreach
Starting effective outreach requires extensive research into the target audience – which already provides valuable insights for your company and provides the SDRs with the information they need to personalize their approach and get better results. But that’s not where the insights stop – once SDRs start reaching out and talking to leads, they can provide unique insights straight from the source that your company can use across numerous departments. Marketing teams can learn what messaging works best, sales teams can learn what types of leads are most likely to be customers, development and product teams can hear about the features and services the target audience is asking for, and so much more. This type of information can only be obtained by speaking to the audience, and it’s something that SDRs can provide as part of the outreach process. - Save Time & Manpower
Outsourcing your SDR needs allows you to distribute resources and use time more efficiently. If you’re a small company with time and budget constraints, having a dedicated outsourced sales team allows more funding to be put toward other areas, such as product development. Additionally, employees that are involved in the hiring and training process of SDRs can dedicate their time to more impactful areas instead of losing valuable working hours to the hiring process. - High Flexibility & Scalability
Outsourcing is easily scalable and offers more flexibility than in-house sales teams. With the ability to quickly add or remove trained and qualified SDRs as needed, an SDR team that’s been outsourced can scale with a growing company more quickly compared to in-house teams. In times of rapid growth, companies can also use an outsourced sales team while they get an in-house sales team hired and trained so that they don’t lose any sales momentum in the growing process. Additionally, there are many situations where a larger SDR team is only needed temporarily, for example, to support a specific campaign, product launch, or event. Outsourcing makes it easy to grow your team temporarily, which wouldn’t be possible with an in-house team, as hiring, onboarding, and firing for only one or two months of work isn’t feasible. - Reduced Costs
Hiring in-house SDRs comes with high costs of onboarding, employee salaries, insurance, taxes, and benefits while requiring physical office space and equipment. Additionally, hiring someone with extensive experience in your specific field and with your target audience is very expensive, as the demand is high. With an outsourcing company, all of these costs are irrelevant – the company pays the employees all of their salaries and benefits, onboarding is practically immediate, and you benefit from experienced teams from day 1. - Fast Onboarding
Hiring multiple SDRs can be a months-long process that piles on administrative costs. Once hired, a few weeks are required for onboarding, and even then, it can take a bit more time before SDRs feel comfortable in their new role. There is a long learning curve that can easily be reduced by outsourcing teams who can start right away.
SDR Outsourcing Best Practices
To ensure you pick an outsourcing company best suited to your company’s needs, there are a few SDR best practices to follow.
- Know what your company needs
You need to have a firm understanding of what your company needs from an outsourced SDR team. Do you need them only for outbound lead generation or inbound as well? How do you want them to contact leads? It’s important to choose a company that offers the right services for you. Having lead generation goals and knowing the scope of your work will also help you find an SDR company that makes a good fit for you. - Find an SDR service with the right experience
You need an SDR company that has experience with companies that are of similar size and have similar targets to yours. If you need to target IT and an outsourced sales company you’re considering has never booked a meeting in IT, it’s probably not a great fit. Look for a company with a proven track record in the fields you’re targeting. - Ask about their scalability
Get a clear understanding of the flexibility and scalability the company offers and if it’s in line with what you organization needs. Do you expect activity to grow temporarily for a few months every year? - Be patient with the process
While outsourced SDRs can onboard faster than new in-house SDR hires, it still requires some time for teams to adapt to your brand and product. SDR companies consist of professional SDRs who can get up to speed quickly and are already trained in how to handle objections. They take the time to thoroughly learn about your business, branding, customers, and common objections, which enables them to maximize the number of quality leads they bring to your sales team, and even if they start outreach within a week or two, there is still a learning curve as they optimize their approach and you get a consistent stream of qualified meetings coming in. This can take anywhere from one to three months.
SDR Support for Your Company
It’s clear to see that outsourcing your company’s SDR team can help boost growth and efficiency. By providing your sales team with interested and qualified leads, they can spend less time doing tedious, manual lead generation tasks and spend more time speaking with potential customers and closing deals. Additionally, with the market research provided by SDR teams, your company can be more responsive to customer feedback and have more insights into how to grow your company. Last, but equally important, is how much money your company can save on employee hiring costs, inefficient marketing campaigns, office space, and other overhead costs. If you’re considering hiring SDRs for your company, it’s worth considering the benefits outsourcing has to offer.
To find out how outsourcing your SDR team can help your company meet its goals, schedule an intro call today!
